The Craft of Writing

Poetry

Eliot’s poem, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock“, and especially the second and third lines, are said to herald in modernism in poetry. His is an excellent example of a unique voice. The voice reverberates from the words, almost jumping out of the page. It resonates for the reader, reaching out to decode the metaphorical content.

T.S. Eliot wrote this poem in 1910 when he was twenty-two years old. It was first published in 1915 at the instigation of Ezra Pound.

I was drawn to the exotic name Ein Gedi, when coming across it in my brother’s first novel set partly in Israel. Then in a friend’s writing based on a poem by Ted Hughes from “Folktale”, part of Hughes’ collection entitled Capriccio. Hughes refers obliquely to the last of the leopards of Ein Gedi in the following excerpt, which suggests via exotic imagery that he is enslaved by dangerous passions. Hughes is writing here about his fraught relationship with Assia Wevill, a flamboyant European who settled in Israel for a time after the War.

What he wanted
Was the gold, black-lettered pelt
Of the leopard of Ein Gedi.
She wanted only the runaway slave.
(From Folktale by Ted Hughes)

There are still doubts as to whether any of the leopards from the original aristocratic dynasty of leopards that roamed the area still exist. And even whether any leopards at all still roam the wilderness areas of Ein Gedi. I discovered that Hariton the leopard entered kibbutz Ein Gedi twice in earlier years, and was once spotted carrying off in his fangs a house cat, which he later devoured. Apparently at this time there were two leopards left in the Judea Desert, Hariton and a female.

According to a study from Tel Aviv University, altogether there were only eight leopards left in the entire country up until a few years ago. The study, conducted by Inbar Perez in 2006 as part of her degree in zoology, was intended to provide the Nature and Parks Authority with information to help preserve the leopards, which have been in danger of extinction for years. Fewer than 100 leopards are estimated to be left in the Arabian Peninsula (Yemen, Saudi Arabia and Oman) and in the rest of the region, including Israel, fewer than 50.

Ein Gedi is an oasis on the western shore of the Dead Sea and one of the most important archaeological sites in the Judean Desert.

The name means Kid Spring: a compound of two Hebrew words: ein meaning spring, and gdi meaning young goat. Ein-Gedi is actually the name of a spring which flows from a height of 656 feet above the Dead Sea. In the Bible, the wasteland near the spring where David sought refuge from Saul is called “the wilderness of Ein-Gedi” and the enclosed camps at the top of the mountains, the “strongholds of Ein Gedi.” Ein Gedi is mentioned for the first time in the Old Testament (Joshua 15, 61) among the list of the six desert-cities in the domain of the tribe of Judas (Yehudah). Wikipedia

Nubian ibex in Ein Gedi Reserve, Israel

Some pictures and photos of Ein Gedi are reminiscent of images I gleaned from biblical references of the Garden of Eden as a child.

High Flight

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds, — and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of — wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov’ring there,
I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air. . . .

Up, up the long, delirious burning blue
I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or ever eagle flew —
And, while with silent, lifting mind I’ve trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

The Parable of the Twins

I came across this parable at the time my daughter was about to give birth to her first son and was enchanted by it. I had studied “The Republic” by Plato at Armidale Teachers’ College, and had learnt about a similar metaphor, that of The Cave, included in The Republic. Plato describes slaves imprisoned in a cave who are ignorant of the real world outside their prison. “The Parable of the Twins” expresses a similar idea of dislocation and ignorance linked to being expelled from the womb at the time of birth. My daughter has become avidly interested in the Cave Metaphor, even though she has never read “The Republic” by Plato, nor was ever willing to hear me talk about such things.

It goes something like this …

Once upon a time, twin boys were conceived in the womb. Seconds, minutes, hours passed as the two embryonic lives developed. The spark of life grew and each tiny brain began to take shape and form. With the development of their brain came feeling, and with feeling, perception—a perception of surroundings, of each other, and their own lives. They discovered that life was good and they laughed and rejoiced in their hearts.

One said to the other, “We are so lucky to have been conceived and to have this wonderful world.”

The other chimed in, “Yes, blessed be our mother who gave us life and each other.”

Each of the twins continued to grow and soon their arms and fingers, legs and toes began to take shape. They stretched their bodies and churned and turned in their little world. They explored it and found the life cord which gave them life from their mother’s blood. They were grateful for this new discovery and sang, “How great is the love of our mother – that she shares all she has with us!”

Weeks passed into months and with the advent of each new month, they noticed a change in each other and in themselves.

Infatuation

Aged over seventy and I fell in love, unexpected to say the least. I will never forget the date; 31st October 2014, Halloween! Is that prophetic? More than twelve months have since passed and those feelings haven’t waned, they have intensified. How to celebrate this situation? After some thinking I came up with the following … I like to write, the language of love is poetry, the best love poems are sonnets, therefore I decided to attempt to create a love sonnet. What follows is the outcome of that decision, written for my princess.